Overview

If you do not want cPanel & WHM's rpm.versions system to manage an RPM, you can set that RPM's target to unmanaged. This document provides steps for how to set RPM targets to unmanaged and how to return RPM targets to a managed state.

Common unmanaged RPM problems

Warning:

You may experience problems with certain services if their targets are set to unmanaged:

The rpm.versions system does not update RPMs for which the target is set to unmanaged. These RPMs require manual upgrades and maintenance.

If you upgrade a server for which the FTP targets are set to unmanaged, problems may occur in cPanel's FTP-related interfaces.

It is possible that unmanaged RPM targets may become upgrade blockers for a future version of cPanel & WHM.

If you set a MySQL target to the unmanaged state, the system also blocks MariaDB on the server. To successfully use a cPanel-managed installation of either MySQL or MariaDB, the rpm.versions system must manage both softwares' RPM targets.

Upgrade MySQL/MariaDB interface errors

If you see the following message in WHM's MySQL/MariaDB Upgrade interface (Home >> Software >> MySQL/MariaDB Upgrade), the RPM target for the blocked version of MySQL® is uninstalled:

Your server's MySQL RPM target is set to "uninstalled". You cannot use the MySQL Upgrade feature while your server is in this state. To allow cPanel & WHM to upgrade MySQL on your server, read the rpm.versions system documentation.

To correct this issue, you must return the MySQL RPM target to the managed state, to allow cPanel & WHM to manage the RPM. To return the MySQL RPM target to the managed state, perform the steps in the Return an RPM target to the managed state section below.

Important:

In cPanel & WHM version 11.50 and later, if you set a MySQL target to the unmanaged state, the system will also block MariaDB on the server. To successfully use a cPanel-managed installation of either MySQL or MariaDB, the rpm.versions system must manage both softwares' RPM targets.

Why is my RPM target set to unmanaged?

In cPanel & WHM version 11.34 and earlier, the update settings for these services were configured in the cPanel Package Updates feature. When cPanel implemented the rpm.versions system in cPanel & WHM version 11.36, these services were converted to the RPM system. If the services' updates were set to Never Update in the cPanel Package Updates interface in cPanel & WHM version 11.34 or earlier, their targets were automatically set as unmanaged in the rpm.versions system during the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 11.36. While it was sometimes practical to set service updates to Never in earlier versions of cPanel & WHM, the related problems have been solved in more recent versions.

The cPanel Package Updates feature in cPanel & WHM version 11.34

Warning:

We strongly recommend that you to allow the rpm.versions system to manage all RPM targets.

The RPM targets for the following services may be unmanaged, even if you did not actively change them:

Service

Associated target

Bandmin

bandmin

Warning:

We removed the Bandmin feature from cPanel & WHM version 58. The Bandmin feature only exists in cPanel & WHM version 56 and earlier.

Courier

courier

Warning:

We removed the Courier mail server in cPanel & WHM version 54. The Courier mail server only exists for cPanel & WHM version 11.52 and earlier.

Dovecot

dovecot

FTP

proftpd and pure-ftpd

MySQL

MySQL55 or MySQL56

NSD

nsd

What is an RPM target?

The rpm.versions system uses the target setting to determine whether to install or uninstall that target's specific RPMs. The target_settings section of the /usr/local/cpanel/etc/rpm.versions file contains the cPanel-provided default status for each target.

For example, the cPanel-provided distribution of ClamAV consists of three RPMs:

cpanel-clamav

cpanel-clamav-virusdefs

cpanel-perl-522-File-Scan-ClamAV

In the /usr/local/cpanel/etc/rpm.versions file, the setting for the clamav RPM target controls how the rpm.versions system manages all three of these components.

For more information about the /usr/local/cpanel/etc/rpm.versions file, read our The rpm.versions File documentation.

List of RPM targets

The following table lists the associated targets for cPanel & WHM services:

Service

Associated target

Third-party software

3rdparty

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.

Analog Stats

analog

AWStats

awstats

ClamAV Scanner

clamav

Composer

composer

cPanel

cpanel

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.

cPanel Developer Tools

cpanel-devel

Note:

This RPM target controls the files that allow you to rebuild certain cPanel-provided RPMs.

Dovecot

dovecot

Exim

exim

Warning:

Only experienced system administrators, who understand the effects of the change, should set this target to unmanaged.

FTP

proftpd or pure-ftpd

Git

git

Horde

horde

Mailman

mailman

MariaDB

MariaDB100, MariaDB101, or MariaDB102

Note:

We added MariaDB102 in cPanel & WHM version 66.

Munin

munin

MyDNS

mydns

MySQL®

MySQL50, MySQL51, MySQL55, or MySQL56

Note:

We deprecated the MySQL50 and MySQL51 targets in cPanel & WHM version 60, and removed them in cPanel & WHM version 68.

NSD

nsd

Obsolete services

obsolete

Passive OS Fingerprinting

p0f

Perl 5.22

perl522

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.

Perl 5.24

perl524

Warning:

Never set this target to unmanaged. It could cause serious problems on your server.

PHP

cpanel-php56

PowerDNS

powerdns

Roundcube Webmail

roundcube

SQLite

sqlite

System update

updatenow

cPanel user interface

userinterface

Webalizer

webalizer

Set an RPM target to unmanaged

To set an RPM target to the unmanaged state, perform the following steps:

Run the following command, where service represents the name of the RPM target that you wish to set to the unmanaged state:

When you use the --del option with the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions script, you return that RPM target to its default in the managed state, which could be installed or uninstalled.

To confirm that the RPM target is no longer unmanaged, run the following command:

cat /var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/local.versions

The /var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/local.versions file will no longer list that RPM target.

Note:

To return FTP services to the managed state, you may need to run these commands for both the pure-ftpd and proftpd targets.

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